Combined defrost pan and storage tray



Aug. 25,

1953 R. c. SANDIN 2,649,697

COMBINED DEFROST PAN AND STORAGE TRAY Filed Dec. 26, 1951 *mnnmmmmmmmmm l Patented Aug. 25, 1953 PATENT OFFICE- COMBINED DEFROST PAN'AND STORAGE TRAY Ray G; sail-emcee Park, 111;, assignor toGcn- Electric? Gompa'ny, a corporation of" New York.

ApplicationDccember26, 1951', Serial'No'. 263,359

6 Glaims- (Cl. 62-403) 'I-hi's' invention relates: to an improved defrost pan forrefrigeratomg' and has' 'fora principal object the provision of a novel defrost' pan having" ai i externalstorage raolr' or tray for conveniently accommodatinga p'I-uralityoff small articlest The need for: providing means for storing small articlesom other than theconventional re--- fri'gerator shel ves 'has long been recognized; and

it has'beceme commonto provid'e'racks orshelves ontheinnerliner of" the cabinetldoor to accommodateeggs; cans -ofmilk or. otherfooda and the: like. The trend has been toward the design of door shel ves for specializedpurposes; for exam-- ple, some shelves arelntended for'egg-"storage extent of the front wall thereof; to provide means 7 for storing such small articles.

- It is another object of the" invention to provide a smelt-article storage trayat: a- Iocation which isreadily accessible: upon opening the cabinetdoorzi I't-is further object of the: invention to pro-- vide' a; combined: defrost pan: and small-article storage? tray which functions without interference of: thenormalfunction- 01 the defrost pan as aabatlle for establishing-properan circulation withinstherefrigerator.

-It is' still another: object to provide a defrost panortherlike'having a frontshelf or bin which be removed; without disturbing its contents when itis; neecssary; to empty defrost water from the-pan;

Other f eatures'a-ndfadvantages'of' the invention: will be understoodi from the following oletailed description. of an embodiment thereof; readiiinthe light of the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a front elevation of the upperportion of a refrigerator cabinet showing an application of the invention; Fig. 215' a fragmentary side'sectional elevation of the front portion of the defrostpan and the'removably mounted tray takenonfines 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view" of" said" pan and tray;

2. with the side wallof the refrigerator cabinet in section on lines 3-3 of Fig. 2'.

In Fig. 1, a refrigerator I' has the usual'cabi netspace z and an outer door 3 said door being shown in full open position. The refrigerator is represented as being of'the type in which the evaporator 4-01" alternatively, a frozen food storage compartment-extends across the full width of the cabinet. Said evaporator; or com-- partment, has a door 5 suitably hinged-to afford access.

It is a standard practice to provide s; shallow pan beneath the evaporator to catch drippage therefrom during defrost periods. Said pans are usedas baiiles to controlair circulation within the cabinet, and accordingly; are-spaced suitably below the bottom of the evaporator; The dimensions of the defrostpan are such that there is suitable side wall clearance between the pan and the sides and rear'of theinner' liner forming the refrigeratorcompartment. Warm airflowing up the front and sides of'thecabinet gives up its heat tothe evaporator, and the chilled air flows down along the rear and rear sidewalls into the cabinet space;

Theshall'ow defrost pan 6'-somethim'esknown as a chiher tray--preferably has a width at least equal to that of the evaporator" 4* and a length sufiicient to project slightly beyond the rear wall (not shown) of the evaporator, thus providing sufiicient catch-basin area to receive water which may dri p'fiomthesi'des and'rear of the-'evaporator during defrosting; The pan'is suitably supported for withdrawal from the front; the rails 1" fixed totlie respective sides 8' of the cabinet liner are-merely representative of any suitable supportsi Where the rails 1 terminate at the front of the pan, suitably headed studs 'Llmay be'secured at su-itableintervals'to the side walls 8 to project over'the-sides' of the pan and thus support the same'aga-inst tilting under the weight of the" contents of the storagetray, as later de-- scribed. There is substantial clearance between the'bottom'ofthe evaporator and the pant} As appears in Fig. 2, the front wall 9 of the pan terminates rearwardly of' the front of the evaporator and each of the side walls It projects forwardly of said front wall to provide rigid extensions "LI. 111 the presently preferred embodiment, these extensions afford means for the attachment of the storage tray or rack l2, although the tray maybe entirely separate and supported on the rails! or equivalent. As shown, however; the tray may be molded from suitable plastic or metal to have rearwardly extending side walls I4 in closely overlapping relationship with the pan wall extensions HM. Where tray I2 is to have a permanent connection with said pan wall extensions, the securement thereto might be by welding, if the respective walls were of metal, or by suitable adhesive, rivets, or the like, if the respective parts were each of plastic, or one of plastic and the other of metal. I consider it preferable, however, to mount the tray l2 removably on the plan extensions IU.I. One manner of effecting such removable mountingis to provide the respective extensions l0.l with aligned slots l5 and to secure to the walls M of the tray an angle bracket having a base 16 and an inwardly and downwardly projecting plate ll. Said plate is designed to seat snugly within the associated slot I5. Such an arrangement supports the tray I2 against tilting relative to the pan 6. Obviously, the slots may be provided on the walls l4 and the pan wall extensions I0.I have the cooperating mounting plates; other arrangements for detachable securement will occur to those skilled in the art.

It is not necessary, of course, to have the tray l2 extend the full width of the pan. Where a partial extension is desired, the tray support may include one of the side wall extensions HM and a similar support-forming wall or extension (not shown) projecting forwardly from the front wall 9 of the tray.

The tray has a downwardly sloping top wall !8 which extends rearwardly into overlapping relation with the front wall 9 of pan 6, and thus catches and deflects into said pan any drippage from the extreme front portion of the evaporator.

Further, the tray has the respective rear, bottom, and front walls 20, 2|, and 22, defining a storage cavity bounded at each end by side wall portions 23. At least the front wall 22 may be foraminated, if desired, to provide for air circulation about the articles carried by the tray. A suitably decorated trim strip 24 may be overlaid on the front wall 22 if desired. It is important to note that the rear tray wall is spaced well forwardly of the front pan wall 9 and that the wall i8 is substantially above the upper edge of said front pan wall. Such spacing provides an adequate air flow passage from the compartment 2 into the space between the pan and the bottom of the evaporator. The curved transition between walls 20 and 2|, and the forward slant of wall 9, provided a throat of Venturi contour for thefiow of air therethrough.

It will thus be seen that I have increased the utility of the usual drip pan by providing storage means in a portion of the cabinet which had hitherto been generally wasted. The pan functions as an air flow baffle and drip collector are unimpaired. To remove the pan for pouring defrost water therefrom, it is necessary only to draw the pan forwardly on its rails or guides 1 until tray 12 clears the front door 5, after which the tray may be removed without disturbing its contents, here shown as comprising a quantity of eggs E. The side walls l4 and 23 of the tray provide stability when the tray is placed on a counter or table. Pan 8 may then be entirely withdrawn, emptied and replaced, and the tray I2 restored to position before the pan is returned fully to its home position.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, a refrigerator defrost pan having spaced wall portions extending forwardly of a front wall thereof, and a tray-forming structure secured to and extending between said extending wall portions, the'rear wall of said trayforming structure being spaced forwardly of said pan front wall; said tray-forming structure having a top wall spaced above said pan front wall and sloping rearwardly and downwardly into overlapping relation therewith.

' 2. In combination, a refrigerator defrost pan having spaced wall portions extending forwardly of a front wall thereof, and a tray-forming structure extending between said extending wall portions in detachable securement thereto, the rear wall of said tray-forming structure being spaced forwardly of said pan front wall; said tray-forming structure having a top wall spaced above said pan front wall and sloping rearwardly and downwardly into overlapping relation therewith.

3. In combination, a refrigerator defrost pan having spaced wall portions extending forwardly of a front wall thereof, and a tray-forming structure secured to and extending between said extending wall portions in spaced relation to the front wall of the pan; the front wall of the pan sloping forwardly and the rear and bottom walls of said tray-forming structure sloping toward and then away from said pan front wall to provide an air-flow throat having a substantially Venturi shape in cross section.

4. In a refrigerator having a, cabinet and an evaporator in an upper portion thereof to chill the cabinet space by heat exchange .with'air circulating within said cabinet, the combination of a substantially horizontally disposed baflie member supported within said cabinet and extending rearwardly therein below and in spaced relation with the bottom of said evaporator and a foodstorage tray secured to said baflle in spaced relation with the front wall thereof; a rear wall of said tray cooperating with a front wall portion of said bafile member to provide a passage for air flow from said cabinet into the area between the bottom of said evaporator and said baflle member.

5. In a refrigerator having a cabinet and an evaporator in an upper portion thereof to chill the cabinet space by heat exchange with air circulating within said cabinet, the combination of a baflie-forming pan supported within said cabinet in parallel spaced relation with the bottom of said evaporator and a food-storage tray secured to said pan in spaced relation with the front wall thereof; the front wall of said pan being disposed rearwardly of the front portion of said evaporator, and a rear wall of said tray cooperating with said pan front wall to provide a passage for air flow from said cabinet into the area between the bottom of said evaporator and said pan, said tray, further, having a wall above said air flow passage and sloping rearwardly from beneath the front portion of said evaporator into overlapping relation with the front pan wall to conduct drippage from said evaporator into said pan.

6. In a refrigerator having a cabinet nd an evaporator in an upper portion thereof to chill the cabinet space by heat exchange with air circulating within said cabinet, the combin ti of a bafileforming pan removably supported within sa1d cabinet in parallel spaced relation with the bottom of said evaporator and a food-storage tray removably secured to said pan in spaced relation with the front Wall thereof; the front wall of said pan being disposed rearwardly of the front portion of said evaporator and a rear wall of said tray cooperating with said pan front Wall member to provide a passage for air flow from said cabinet into the area between the bottom of said evaporator and said pan, said tray, further, having a Wall above said air-flow passage and ex-. tending the length of said front pan wall to divert drippage from said front evaporator portion into said pan.

RAY C. SANDIN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Katzinger Oct. 10, 1916 Burlingham et a1. Apr. 27, 1926 Longstreth July 17, 1934 Peltier Sept. 29, 1942 Burtis Dec. 6, 1949 

